Detailed Description

Overview

The pcl_io library contains classes and functions for reading and writing point cloud data (PCD) files, as well as capturing point clouds from a variety of sensing devices. An introduction to some of these capabilities can be found in the following tutorials:

PCL is agnostic with respect to the data sources that are used to generate 3D point clouds. While OpenNI-compatible cameras have recently been at the center of attention in the 3D/robotics sensing community, many of the devices enumerated below have been used with PCL tools in the past:

Caution: PointCloud structures containing an RGB field have traditionally used packed float values to store RGB data. Storing a float as ASCII can introduce variations to the smallest bits, and thus significantly alter the data. This is a known issue, and the fix involves switching RGB data to be stored as a packed integer in future versions of PCL.

Templated version for saving point cloud data to a PCD file containing a specific given cloud format.

Parameters

[in]

file_name

the output file name

[in]

cloud

the point cloud data message

[in]

binary_mode

true for binary mode, false (default) for ASCII

Caution: PointCloud structures containing an RGB field have traditionally used packed float values to store RGB data. Storing a float as ASCII can introduce variations to the smallest bits, and thus significantly alter the data. This is a known issue, and the fix involves switching RGB data to be stored as a packed integer in future versions of PCL.

Templated version for saving point cloud data to a PCD file containing a specific given cloud format.

Parameters

[in]

file_name

the output file name

[in]

cloud

the point cloud data message

[in]

indices

the set of indices to save

[in]

binary_mode

true for binary mode, false (default) for ASCII

Caution: PointCloud structures containing an RGB field have traditionally used packed float values to store RGB data. Storing a float as ASCII can introduce variations to the smallest bits, and thus significantly alter the data. This is a known issue, and the fix involves switching RGB data to be stored as a packed integer in future versions of PCL.

Templated version for saving point cloud data to a PCD file containing a specific given cloud format.

This version is to retain backwards compatibility.

Parameters

[in]

file_name

the output file name

[in]

cloud

the point cloud data message

Caution: PointCloud structures containing an RGB field have traditionally used packed float values to store RGB data. Storing a float as ASCII can introduce variations to the smallest bits, and thus significantly alter the data. This is a known issue, and the fix involves switching RGB data to be stored as a packed integer in future versions of PCL.